John Frusciante's The Empyrean

You know, I really love The Red Hot Chili Peppers, I was one of the first fanboys to go buy Anthony Kiedis's tell all book: Scar Tissue and I've been head banging to their incredibly funky brand of rock since '91. Like all great bands, it's not just the front man who makes the band, but a unique group of people blending together to make something incredible. The peppers are blessed with an incredible crew, be it Chad, the drummer, Flea, John or Anthony... they all bring something special to the table. That's why I was at least somewhat interested when I heard about John Frusciante's 10th solo album: The Empyrean.
There don't seem to be any reviews or song leaks on the tubes, so all we can do is speculate. John has set up a new blog and has made a couple of posts about the new album. Here's a snip:

The Empyrean is my new record and will be released worldwide via Record Collection on January 20th 2009. It was recorded on and off between December 2006 and March 2008. It is a concept record that tells a single story both musically and lyrically. The story takes place within one person, and there are two characters. It contains a version of Tim Buckley's, 'Song To The Siren' and the rest of the songs are written by me. My friend Josh plays on it, as does Flea. It also features Sonus Quartet, Johnny Marr and The New Dimension Singers.

So, it seems that John has a good feeling about this album and later goes on to say that he has been listening to the album a lot lately for "the psychedelic experience it provides". That's good enough for me! The cover art he posted to his site looks great, too.

So, does this Peppers guitar player have what it takes to make a new record? I sure hope so, there's a musical drought and I'm craving some new tunes.